The field of the invention is increasing the capacity of landfills. The prior art on the processing of solid waste is voluminous. Some examples are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,329,105 discloses an apparatus for working garbage and refuse of towns. The apparatus consists primarily of a rather high building or tower having a number of fermentation chambers. Air conduits extend vertically from the bottom to the top of each chamber. Each conduit has a number of openings to discharge air into the chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,832,179 discloses a plant for treating organic refuse into useful substances by means of a fermentation activated or stimulated by an injection of air into the moistened mass of refuse.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,798,800 discloses a process of comporting municipal refuse. The process contemplates the stacking of unsegregated municipal refuse into an elongated, unconfined pile, which is referred to as a "windrow". The patent discloses that the "windrow" should be tumbled whenever available oxygen within it is reduced to such an extent that it will not support vigorous aerobic action.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,821 discloses a method and apparatus for decomposing waste material by aerobic bacterial action wherein optimum conditions for aerobic bacterial activity are approached and anaerobic bacterial activity is suppressed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,377 discloses a method for treating organic and inorganic waste material, which includes a process wherein said material is thoroughly pulverized and then mixed and moistened for initiating fermentation thereof prior to its delivery to a digestor chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,012 is a divisional of aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,821, and also discloses an apparatus for composting waste material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,979 discloses a high efficiency waste placement system for municipal landfills. This system includes shredding the waste, moisture adjusting the waste, placing the waste in a specific configuration, installing an aeration system in the waste pile, covering the waste pile with a synthetic cover, performing static pile aerobic decomposition (biostabilizing), compacting the waste pile and covering the compacted waste pile with a synthetic cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,452 discloses a method and apparatus for reclaiming waste material. The patent discloses that after decomposition of waste material has occurred, the resultant material may be removed and separated into useable fractions such as soil and recyclable metals, rubber, glass and plastics, at column 2, lines 27-30.